Preliminary to President’s arrival we are repeating message dispatched
earlier from Secretary Rusk for
delivery to Foreign Minister Gromyko.2

“We are astonished and dismayed by preliminary reports of heavy fighting
between Israeli and Egyptian forces. As you know, we have been making
the maximum effort to prevent this situation. We were expecting a very
high level Egyptian Delegation on Wednesday and we had assurances from
the Israelis that they would not initiate hostilities pending further
diplomatic efforts. We feel it is very important that the United Nations
Security Council succeed in bringing this fighting to an end as quickly
as possible and are ready to cooperate with all members of the Council
to that end.”

Source: Johnson Library, National Security
File, Head of State Correspondence, USSR, Washington-Moscow “Hot-Line” Exchange, 6/5–10/67.
Secret. A typed notation on the source text states it was
transmitted by U.S. Molink at 8:15 a.m., and received by Soviet
Molink at 8:33 a.m. It is addressed “To Chairman Kosygin, From The White House.” A
copy addressed “To Comrade Kosygin, Chairman Council of Ministers, USSR, From President of the United
States, Lyndon B. Johnson” is
ibid., Rostow Files, President-Kosygin Correspondence. According to Llewellyn E. Thompson, the U.S.
telegraph operators apparently had asked the Moscow operators the
proper way to address Kosygin
and were told, “Comrade Kosygin.” Ambassador Dobrynin, who had been at the Moscow end of the
line, told Thompson afterward that he had been quite startled, and
that the Russians wondered if the President was making a joke, or
making fun of them in some way. Dobrynin, however, told Thompson he guessed what had happened. (Memorandum
of conversation between Thompson and Nathaniel
Davis; ibid., NSC
Histories, Middle East Crisis, Vol. 7, Appendix G)↩

The message was
sent in telegram 208030 to Moscow, June 5 at 5:25 a.m. (National
Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB–ISR) Chargé John C. Guthrie reported in
telegram 5349 from Moscow, received at 9:34 a.m. and passed to the
White House at 9:55 a.m., that he had delivered the message to
Gromyko, who said the Soviet Government was convinced that the great
powers should do everything to end the fighting, expressed certainty
that the United States could exert influence on Israel, and stated
that the Soviet Union had done and would do everything possible to
facilitate the end of the fighting. (Ibid.)↩